Hair 360

Here are (finally) a few shots of my new haircut. It was cut about a week ago, though I'd been considering getting it chopped since I was pregnant. Didn't want to rush into it, I guess. Sorry, a couple are a little fuzzy.

Happy Easter!

Have a super day remembering the love Christ showed on Calvary, and the power shown in His resurrection! Much love from all of us.

Let hydraulics be your friend....

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and get some things done around the yard. In spite of my lack of enthusiasm in the days of my youth, I decided I wanted to do some gardening this year. Due to space considerations we settled on a raised bed planter sized 3x6.5 feet. Mark whipped it up for me yesterday and we picked up a yard of soil for it this morning (see evidence below).


I had already purchased some starts from a local plant warehouse. They were part of my evil plan - if they were sitting around waiting to be transplanted I knew we would have to get moving on putting the bed together. Hopefully our little salad garden will survive my care!





We also picked up a couple strawberry plants and I stole my flower pot for them. Now my poor flower starts are homeless until I find something else for them. I know three strawberry plants won't exactly provide us with a bountiful harvest, but hey - maybe we'll get a bite or two!


The other project we tackled today was cleaning up the devastation that was known as the landscaping by our driveway. We had 4 and 3/4 bushes die this year and their ugliness was more than we could handle. The heather bushes we tackled with shovel and slasher movie-esque blade welded to a heavy metal pipe thing. (Those came out with a modicum of effort). For the unknown bushy rectangle Mark had other ideas. See below. The pictures (and post title) say it all.



The end result looks much nicer. I'll try to post pics after we've found new bushes and fixed it up the rest of the way.




I also went under the knife - er, make that scissors - recently. This picture does not do my 'do justice though. I'll try to post sometime what it actually looks like when I've done more than brush it. I'm enjoying the ease of short hair (though I do keep brushing the back of my neck rather briskly) and really like how it looks. I also like the fact that it takes me about 10 minutes less getting ready in the morning (5 for washing, 5 for fixing). Woohoo!

Some tastiness and other things

Made these for our small group last night - very tasty!

Went to a 1st birthday party for our friends daughter last weekend. Borrowed some of the great ideas linked on my sister's blog for her gift. I decided not to put faces on them, partly because I didn't want a potential chocking hazard, and partly because I have a tendency to wreck perfectly cute things when I attempt to give them a face! I used fabric from Wal-Mart (gasp!) for the bunnies, ball and skirt.




While I was picking up material for the gift, I spotted this print and thought it was too cute to pass up. Don't know what I'll use it for though.


Grandma got Calen a straw cup this week. It didn't take him long to get the hang of it - at least the sucking through the straw part! We'll have to work on the "after you pull it up the straw you're supposed to swallow all of it" part.

Odds and Ends

A few things I've been meaning to post pictures of:

A new dress for me. I bought the fabric at the sewing expo even though I didn't have a pattern in mind. I used McCall's 5752 with almost no changes. I did end of tightening up the crossover front a little. Hard to explain without demonstrating, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It should save me a little from the dreaded gaping crossover monster. It's a terribly unflattering picture of me, hence the cropped head, but I'm pleased with how the dress turned out.


A skirt for me. This one was patternless. Just cut, pin pleats, and call your sister for help! :) It ended up fairly wide, but not so much as to need alteration. I call it my "wear a shorter skirt and still be able to chase Calen when he's old enough to run away from me" skirt. Both the fabrics are from Joann Fabrics. It has four inverted box pleats (at least I think they're inverted - I know they're box pleats) and a side invisible zipper.




This was an experiment that didn't quite turn out. I tried to make a T-shirt based on a beloved and worn out one I own, and then dress it up a little to use for work, church, etc. I thought I added enough to my "pattern" - my beloved shirt is a pre-baby item - but apparently I underestimated. So while I can put it on, it's a little, shall we say "snug" for wearing outside of the house. So I haven't finished it yet since I know I can't use it right now, but you get the idea.



Also saw this adorable giveaway - I would love that Millie Monkey pattern.... :)